Various kinds of sports or training activities such as pitching in baseball, tennis, shot put, rugby, judo, sumo, wrestling, and the like, excessively load the muscles of the arm or the shoulder joint to often cause disorders in this region. Moreover, it is also thought that a disorder of the shoulder called "stiff and painful shoulder of older age" occurs as a result of long-time load to the shoulder. Moreover, since human beings came to take a standing position, it is said that a simple standing position heavily loads the shoulder.
In order to prevent such disorder in the vicinity of the shoulder joint or to support the relevant muscles or bones in the vicinity of the shoulder joint when disorders occur, a taping treatment is used to strongly support the muscle region or bone which relates to the area of the disorders. Also supporters of a tube-like shape made of a stretchable relatively thick pile fabric or neoprene sheet etc. are often used to compress human body parts such as the arms and the legs, inwardly from the circumference.
However, the above mentioned conventional taping method requires skill and if the treatment is applied inadequately, it not only fails to accomplish the purpose of the preventing or treating disorders but also can produce an adverse effect, for example, such as disturbing physical movements, and increasing susceptibility to blood circulation disorders or nervous disorders on the disordered body area and other areas where the taping treatment is applied. Therefore, the taping method can be applied only by those who are skilled in the method but not by those who are not. In particular, in the case of taping treatment for the shoulder or back of the body, self taping treatment is actually impossible. Moreover, once the tape is removed when taking a bath etc. it is necessary to be treated by the skilled person again. Thus, it takes much labor and time to take a taping treatment. Moreover, in the case of taping treatment, tapes are applied to the human body by adhesives, which is not so preferred for the skin from the hygienic viewpoint. Moreover, there is another problem, that is, the area where the taping is applied is always subjected to a compression, so that the user tends to feel uncomfortable.
Recently, support garments incorporating a supporter for protecting the shoulder joint or the taping function have been suggested. Some of such garments can easily be put on, but most of them do not seem to be based on sufficient medical grounds, for example, some of them simply compress strongly the entire region to be protected.
Furthermore, the supporters etc. are often made of rubber materials such as neoprene or thick pile fabric, so that they have shortcomings: for example, deteriorating an appearance, e.g. a proportion in use, because the portion where the above mentioned materials are used swells when worn; or becoming stuffy due to the poor ventilation.
The object of the present invention is to overcome the above mentioned problems and to provide a shoulder and arm support garment which has a structure in which a tape-like portion having a strong straining force is located on the garment main part. The garment is capable of covering at least the upper body part and made of a stretchable fabric. The garment can be easily put on and taken off as necessary (e.g., when taking a bath, etc.) by ordinary people. Therefore, use of the garment does not require a skilled person as in the case of the taping treatment described above. The garment is also comfortable and has no hygienic problems such as itchiness due to the garment becoming stuffy. Furthermore, the garment is effective for prevention or treatment of disorders in the shoulder joint or the arm muscles in the vicinity of the shoulder joint.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a shoulder and arm support garment which does not deteriorate in appearance in use, such as in proportion, and is relatively excellent in ventilation.